


The Unquiet Grave

by WhyDontWeBegin



Series: Born of Light, Bathed in Shadow [10]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Children of Characters, F/M, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Just. Sad., Mystery, Night Terrors, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Sad, Viera Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), no beta we just die, sadfeels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24450088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyDontWeBegin/pseuds/WhyDontWeBegin
Summary: X'rhun pays Emlyn an overdue visit.
Relationships: X'rhun Tia/Warrior of Light
Series: Born of Light, Bathed in Shadow [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576069
Comments: 23
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER ATM THIS SITS AS AU FROM THE GENERAL CANON OF THIS SERIES  
> DISCLAIMER NO 2 I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY HEARTBREAK YOU MAY EXPERIENCE READING THIS, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL
> 
> Disclaimer No 3: I actually have ideas for this to continue maybe possibly,
> 
> Disclaimer No 4 the title is pulled from The Unquiet Grave by Karliene

X’rhun stood at a lone grave.

(He heard laughter echoing in his ears, phantoms. How his heart ached for them to be true.

How he wanted to hold her again. Feel the press of her body against his and let her tuck his head under her chin. Let her rest her head against his shoulder so she could hide her smile, the one she never realized he knew about.)

X’rhun’s hands curled into fists unbidden. How long had it been, now? How long, since the last time he saw her? Heard her words or her laughter or saw her smile? How long?

He closed his eyes and took off his hat as he sat down and turned, leaning back against the stone. If he closed his eyes and let his mind wander, he could imagine it was _her_ he leaned against. But that would just make it worse, he knew. So he did not.

“Sorry for being gone so long, my dear,” he rasped, and then winced. “I… miss you. So does Alisae. And Arya.”

He sighed heavily and leaned his head back. “All of the Scions do.”

X’rhun wasn’t quite sure how long he spent there, just talking aimlessly about nothing and everything.

(It reminded him of that first time she’d come into the Coffer & Coffin after they met, tired and distant until he spoke of things not her problem. How bewildered she had been when he offered to teach her. How they’d talked about everything and nothing afterwards.

He remembered pressing close to her as he adjusted her stance. He remembered sparring with her when she was upset.

He remembered the first time they sparred, where she had struck hard and fast and left him breathless with the force of the blow as much as her grace.

He remembered the first time he’d seen her smile. A real, genuine smile. The way her eyes had lit up and crinkled around the corners. She’d looked so _bright_ in that moment. So free and unburdened. He’d wanted to make her smile like that more.)

His ears flicked absently as he stared up at the stars overhead. “I wish you could’ve come home. I wish you could’ve been here.”  
  
He heard the sound of children running and a smile crossed his face as he looked in the direction. He heard laughter. A young girl with olive skin and platinum hair and vibrant yellow eyes ran up and around and behind him. A young boy followed shortly after, ears flicking utop his head. The girl’s tail lashed back and forth.

“Daddy, Raphael won’t leave me alone!”

“Rabia keeps taking my stuff!”

X’rhun gave a tired sigh and shifted, pulling both of his children into a hug. Raphael and Rabia shared a confused look for a brief moment. “Can you two head back and wait for me?”

As he pulled back from the hug the twins nodded, though their confusion was still evident. Rabia was the first to dart off, and X’rhun only shook his head as Raphael followed soon after.

He stood and straightened his coat, taking a few steps before pausing and turning back to look at the grave.

“Ah, I forgot to mention… did you know it’s raining, Emlyn?”

No one was there to witness his tears hit the ground as he replaced his hat and continued on after the rambunctious twins making their way back to the road.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was it that she had seen in those eyes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have a second dose of feelings! I'm making good on disclaimer 3  
> plus y'all seem to enjoy this, for some reason, so???

The cicadas sung loudly. Rocks crunched under her boots. Wind rustled through the trees overhead and she could smell the earth, the forest. She could smell the rain that had come and gone earlier that day, and hear the sound of a creek.

A hooded woman looked to the sky, to the stars, and asked Gods she did not believe in a question, deep within her heart.

—

X’rhun was tired.

That was to be expected of a man raising two four-year-olds on his own, even _with_ the assistance of the Scions and Arya and the others who Emlyn had worked with on her journey. As it was, he was thankful for Sidurgu and Rielle and their boundless patience with Raphael and Rabia. X’rhun quietly curled up deeper in the bed.

His mind drifted to when he first came to Ishgard with Emlyn and Arya. It felt like so long ago, now. It had been over four years…

He reached into his shirt and near-tangled his fingers in the thin chain underneath, lifting it. On it, a ring. A simple band.

A promise that couldn’t be kept.

He pulled it back close to his heart as he had done so many times before, a weak purr rumbling in his chest in a futile attempt to fill the void in his heart.

—

Raphael did not remember his mother. His father rarely spoke of her, as did Uncle Thancred and Uncle Urianger. Aunt Tataru had told them a few stories, but naught more.

Aunt Alisae and Arya would only give sad smiles and change the subject.

And so he had drifted away from them and began to listen to the stories of the Warrior of Light. Of Emlyn Miret-njer, who had died two years ago. (His mother had vanished two years ago, or so he’d been told.) It was during one such time that he lost track of Rabia and his blood ran cold.

He’d gone and lost his little sister.

In the middle of _bloody fucking Ishgard_.

—

Sidurgu was not sure what to do with this girl.

X’rhun’s daughter was a handful, much like her mother had been, but for drastically different reasons. (Sidurgu had already decided that giving Raphael a bit of a scare was in the cards. If he wasn’t watching after his sister as she did him, he deserved it.) He quietly watched Rielle and Rabia converse, leaning against the wall and mulling over things.

Two years ago, Emlyn Miret-njer died. Two years ago, this little girl lost her mother. Two years ago, Eorzea lost it’s unfaltering champion.

(Two years ago, the world lost the last vestiges of Fray. Neither Emlyn’s body nor her soul crystals were recovered. Not by them, at least.)

Sidurgu looked up as the door to the Forgotten Knight opened, greeted with the sight of a familiar blonde peering her head over the railing. Arya offered him a bright grin and a wave before all but skipping down the stairs.

“Rabia, your brother is absolutely livid,” she chirped as she arrived at the table. The four-year-old stuck her tongue out.

“Serves him right!”

It came as little surprise that the twins picked things up as easily as they did, speech included, though Rabia was a rather quiet girl by comparison to her brother. But she was innocent where he was calculating. But they shared an undying curiosity, the same one Sidurgu saw in X’rhun.

It made him wonder. What was it, exactly, that Emlyn had seen in those eyes?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A memory like a dream, or a dream like a memory?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a gift  
> its sads

_A memory like a dream, or a dream like a memory?_

_It mattered not. His lungs burned. A cry of her name tore from his lips as he watched her plunge over the edge._

_Emlyn had reached for him. There had been a desperation in her eyes and he remembered vividly the cry of her name that had torn from Derin, remembered the way Emlyn had plummeted, vanished over the edge. Remembered the way violet eyes had turned to him and a whispered apology that fell from false lips as pitch began to melt away to nothing. Remembered how Derin’s voice had broke as she said his name._

_Remembered the tears he could’ve sworn she shed that day, though she was just a shadow given form._

X’rhun woke up. It was neither sudden nor slow, but it left him staring up at the ceiling of the small house he had in the Lavender Beds. Ere long his arm came to rest over his eyes.

No one was there to hear the pained sound that passed his lips, or the broken sob which followed.

—

The woman woke slowly and blinked, looking up to the sky. The stars twinkled above, cold and unfeeling and distant. She wondered. She prayed to Gods she did not believe in.

She dared to hope that one day, perhaps, she may learn the truth behind what had happened.

“Ah. Yer awake, stranger!”

Her attention turned to the only other person present. A merchant to whom the cart she was riding in belonged.

“So, care to tell me yer name?”

She blinked. Her lips parted and her hand went to her throat. He blinked and then tilted his head.

“Can’t speak?”

A shake of the head. The merchant sighed. “Ah, all well. You certainly seem like you’d have some interesting stories to tell, if ya could. A shame, that.”

Once more her gaze turned to the sky. She wondered if anyone else was out there, hoping the heavens may give an answer to unasked questions. Hoping that she was not alone in her loneliness under this vast sky.

—

Alisaie sighed heavily. In the two years since Emlyn’s death, the Scions had near run themselves ragged. It was far harder to handle primal threats without her, and then...

Alisaie missed her. She did. She missed the quiet affection.

Hells, she missed _Derin_ as much as she did Emlyn.

When Alisaie looked to the skies, they offered no solace in those twinkling stars. (Once, she had been _elated_ to see the night sky again. A year without had made her value darkness, but now…

Now, even staring up at the night sky, it felt as though the darkness was not there. It felt as though the light was absent. It was a strange way to feel.)

Rabia came up behind her with a flower, and Alisae smiled, something tired and gentle and affectionate.

—

A hand drifted up. The woman traced the scar on her cheek with her fingers. Many of her scars were faded, these days, naught more than lighter lines on darker skin.But this one was still fresh by comparison, only a year old.

She looked around before deftly climbing a gnarled old tree with a thick trunk and shadows and foliage with which to hide. Sleeping in trees was not, perhaps, the most comfortable of things, but she was accustomed to it.

It did not take long for her to fall into slumber.

_Red… White… Black… A memory like a dream, or a dream like a memory? She wasn’t sure._

_Blue. She tried to take a breath and water filled her lungs, just as sudden as the impact which sent her into it. And she sank. Deeper, deeper, deeper still…_

_Darkness was warm and welcome as she slipped away._

Darkness was what she saw when she awoke. The woman blinked and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes, taking a deep breath. Another. And then she shook her head and jumped down, landing nimbly on her feet with practiced ease.

Laughter rang in her ears as she walked away, though she knew none was there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, then, who do you think this woman is? :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is summary questionmark
> 
> anyways have this,

Emlyn gave a soft laugh and X’rhun could not help himself. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers and the flavor of chocolate met his tongue, warm and sweet and heavy. Rarely had he seen her so content, so happy and at peace.

The smile on her face was unburdened and genuine and her eyes shone with mirth and Rhalgr grant him strength, X’rhun felt as though the world didn’t exist, seeing that look. He brushed her bangs from her face, and a chuckle spilled from him unbidden. And then they calmed and for a moment, there was only the breeze in his hair, in the trees. There was the scent of the flowers on the wind. And there was _her_ , and X’rhun wanted this moment to last an eternity. What he would do to keep a look like this on her face.

(She had suffered enough. He’d decided that long ago.)

“Rhun,” she breathed, and X’rhun hummed in response, cupping her cheek. She turned her head to kiss his palm and his heart skipped a beat in his chest.

(He loved her. He loved her.)

“I love you,” he murmured, the words coming forth unbidden. She looked back at him, then, a smile playing at her lips before she sat up and cupped his cheeks and kissed him. He said it again as they parted and she let herself fall back, pulling him down with her. X’rhun caught himself on his hands as hers wound around his neck. “I love you.”

X’rhun pressed kisses to her face. Her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose. His lips curled into a smile as she laughed, giggles bubbling up and spilling from her lips in a way he found just as intoxicating as a good ale. Whispered words of his affection continued unabated before her hands found his cheeks once more and he was silenced by her lips on his. X’rhun could not deny her.

When they parted again, there was a breathless moment of silence, and then—

“I love you,” she murmured, thumb tracing the mark under his eye. “I love you.”

X’rhun felt his heart swell as he pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

( _“I love you,” he whispered to the silent room, gaze fixed on the ring resting in the palm of his hand._

_“I love you,” came the hoarse whisper, her gaze fixed firmly upon the heavens_.)

—

The world felt silent and slow.

The woman held a ring on a chain in her hand. The metal was cool against her skin. She thought of the man who gave it to her.

(Warm laughter and a warmer embrace. His chest against her back as he read something over her shoulder that she didn’t understand. His voice, warm in her ear as he spoke.

His smile, eyes twinkling with joy and love.

His hands holding hers as he coaxed her through breathing exercises. Strong and firm and steadfast, always.

She remembered ocean eyes.)

Her heart weighed heavy in her chest, a name dying on her lips.

She missed him so much it hurt. She ached to see him again. To hear his voice. Feel his touch. (Perhaps one of the things she missed the most was his embrace. She’d found that she dreamt of it often enough, but it never seemed quite right.)

She looked up, took a breath. Familiar smells and sounds of the forest surrounded her. (She pushed down memories of flames and screams that haunted her still.) She would do what she needed to, and she would go home.

She _would_.

**Author's Note:**

> if you liked this maybe you'll like the [book club](https://discord.gg/c8Yee9S) (but im not sure why you would like this)


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